Mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs) and host–guest chemistry have received great attention in the past few decades. However, it remains challenging to design architectures with mechanically interlocked features and construct cavities for guest molecule recognition using similar building blocks. In this study, we designed and constructed a series of novel twisted supramolecular structures by assembling various multitopic terpyridine (tpy) ligands with the same diameter and Zn(II) ions. The obtained complexes exhibited evolutional architectures and showed distinctively different space-constraint effects. Specifically, the assembled dimer SA, SB, and SBH displayed mechanically interlocked phenomena, including [2]catenane and [3]catenane, with an increase in concentration. However, no interlocked structures were observed in complexes SC and SCH constructed by hexatopic tpy ligands due to the significant space constraints. The single-crystal data of complex SCH further proved significant space constraints and illustrated the formation of a relatively closed cavity, which showed excellent host–guest properties for different calixarenes, especially high affinity for calix[6]arene.

在过去的几十年里，机械互锁分子 (MIM) 和主客体化学受到了极大的关注。然而，设计具有机械互锁特征的架构并使用类似的构建模块构建用于客体分子识别的腔体仍然具有挑战性。在这项研究中，我们通过组装具有相同直径和 Zn(II) 离子的各种多主题三联吡啶 (tpy) 配体，设计并构建了一系列新型扭曲超分子结构。获得的复合物表现出进化结构，并表现出明显不同的空间约束效应。具体来说，组装的二聚体 萨, SB， 和 SBH显示机械互锁现象，包括 [2] 链和 [3] 链，随着浓度的增加。然而，在复合物中没有观察到互锁结构 标准委员会 和 SCH由于显着的空间限制，由六位 tpy 配体构建。复杂的单晶数据 SCH 进一步证明了显着的空间限制并说明了相对封闭腔的形成，这对不同杯芳烃显示出优异的主客体特性，尤其是对杯[6]芳烃的高亲和力。